"Thanks for all your help with our website and your
suggestions. We get so many comments on our web site.
Web reservations are going great. Your other marketing
advice is working well too!"
Thanks
-Kathy, Innkeeper
Inn at The Rostay, Bethel, Maine

Don't Get Burned By Web Designers

If you bring up the subject of web design with
small business people, it wouldn't take long to find
someone who has been burned by a web designer.
Perhaps they have even come to the conclusion that a
web site is not worth the expense. Let's look at how
and why that happens, and outline some success
principles that will help you when you need web
design services. Since so many web designers get it
wrong, the web design principles that actually work
may surprise you.

The process of creating a web site does not end with
making it look professional. In fact, that could
very well be one of the least important aspects of a
web site design. Let's face it, there are ugly web
sites that make a lot of money. Since life is not
fair, there are great looking web sites that make
little or no money. I'm not saying the
professionalism of your web site is not important; I
am saying it's not enough.

There is a serious flaw in the web design industry,
and small business owners are especially prone to
fall victim to it. The problem is that usually, very
little business planning goes into a web site
design. Too many web designers are more concerned
with selling web design than taking the time to
build an effective web site.

This deficiency stems from the fact that very few
web designers are marketing people. Small business
people do not have big advertising budgets, so they
are easily attracted to the low rates of average web
designers. Good marketing means setting priorities
and effectively using your resources to accomplish
goals.

The one element I find seriously missing in web
design is the very thing that is fundamentally
important; that element is uniqueness. A Unique
Selling Point (USP) is one of the basic tenets of
marketing. You must answer the questions: why should
I buy from you, and, what makes you different from
my other choices? If you fail in this area, your web
site visitor will not be kind to you. They will
leave and not come back; they will probably not tell
you why they left either.

Read your web site copy to see if it contains
another common error. Does it say, "We this," and,
"We that?" Do not "we" on your web site visitors!
Your web site copy should speak to the visitor,
address their needs, and solve their problem. It
must compel them in some way. You need to draw them
in and sell them on your solution.

When you take notice of how many web sites violate
these basic marketing principles above, you will
begin to see how you have the opportunity to rise
above your competitors. Just think, if the majority
of business web sites are violating even these most
basic principles, how much more could you benefit
from hiring a web designer who understands
marketing?

There is a lot of emphasis placed on search engine
optimization (SEO), and there should be, because
this is very important if you want to have your web
site found by people using the search engines. For
most web sites, search engines account for 80% to
95% of all visitors. However, as important as SEO
is, if you have a web site that is not creating
sales with the visitors you are already getting, SEO
is the wrong priority.

The next principle is the one you will probably find
the most surprising. People actually read web sites!
Yes, they do have a short attention span, and we
will look at that point next, but they do read.
There have been many studies done to document the
way people use web pages. Even though so much
attention is given to graphics, the studies show
that well over 75% of the time, web page users read
the text before they notice graphics.

This does not mean that graphics are unimportant.
Visual elements are one of the many advantages a web
site can provide. When you consider that people use
the Internet to seek information, then it does makes
sense that they will read your web site's content.
Providing the right information can mean the
difference between winning a customer, or
surrendering them to your competition.

I also promised to cover the short attention span
issue. It is often called the 3 second rule.
According to web studies, if you cannot capture the
attention of your visitor in approximately 3
seconds, that's how fast they usually leave your web
site. I suspect the reason is because so many web
sites are such a horrible waste of time, that
people's patience has been worn down. The solution
is to have a fast loading page that quickly clues
them in that you can solve their problem. If they
can "skim" in a few seconds, and you grab their
attention, you have successfully drawn them in so
they will stay a while.

Statistically, it takes 7 visits before you make a
sale. If your web site is not done correctly, you
will have dismal results because you can't get them
to come back seven times. That is why so many web
site owners are disappointed with their success.
That is why some web designers provide what seems to
be a bargain, while other web designers have to
charge more to give you a better value. It takes
more time to plan and create a good web site design.

The good news is that most of your competitors will
go for the bargain and suffer the same fate as
everyone else who does not realize the value of an
effective web site design. Very few of them will
invest the resources needed for success. If you do,
you can win. This does not mean you need the big
budget of a major corporation, or that it has to be
expensive, it just means you need to be willing to
do better than average. The rewards are much greater
when you stretch beyond the norm.